


Hope

by heydoeydoey



Series: Everything 'verse [3]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-06
Updated: 2011-04-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22790980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heydoeydoey/pseuds/heydoeydoey
Summary: Puck is perfectly happy to sit on the tailgate of his truck with Kurt forever, or for however long it takes them to figure things out.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel, Kurt Hummel/Noah Puckerman
Series: Everything 'verse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1638469
Kudos: 22





	Hope

**Author's Note:**

> So this is another installment in the Everything verse. Chronologically it happens about a week after the events of [Everything](http://hey-doey-doey.livejournal.com/1175.html#cutid1).

Puck wonders, not for the first time this week (hell, not even for the first time today), why the fuck he joined glee club. His body aches from going through their Nationals’ choreography eighty thousand times and his ears are ringing from Rachel’s most recent meltdown and he’s sung ‘Make You Feel My Love’ so many times now, he thinks he might actually start to hate it. But they’re headed for Nationals next week, and the he has the whole summer ahead of him. It’s already bad enough that making it to Nationals means that even though school ended last week, they’ve had to show up at McKinley everyday for rehearsal.  
  
It’s weird, being in the school without anybody else, especially right now since Puck is the last one to leave. Everybody else hurried out of the choir room as fast as possible, but Puck hung back to talk to Mr. Schue for a couple minutes. He walks quickly through the empty halls and out into the June sunshine. His truck is alone in the student lot, and he can see someone sitting on the tailgate. He figures it’s somebody trying to bum a ride.  
  
When he gets close enough to see the familiar swoop of hair and long legs encased in tight black jeans, his heart starts to hammer against his ribcage. He wants to cheer at the sight of Kurt in normal (for him, anyway) clothes instead of the Dalton uniform, but he doesn’t want to count his eggs before they hatch or whatever. Just because Kurt isn’t wearing the stupid blazer now doesn’t mean he won’t go back to it come September.

He hesitates for a moment when he reaches his truck, before lifting himself up onto the tailgate next to Kurt. He nudges the other boy with his shoulder.  
  
“Hey.”  
  
“Hey,” Kurt says, and glances sideways at Puck with a small smile that’s nervous around the edges.  
  
“Didn’t expect to see you here.” Puck says, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. He’d rather curl them around Kurt’s hips or slide them up into his hair, but he knows better. Caution isn’t something he’s used to, but he’s learning.

“Well, I don’t know where you live and I wasn’t sure how to go about asking Finn. I don’t know what other people know about this.” Kurt gestures between them vaguely.

“I didn’t tell anybody. Didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up about you coming back. We both know I’m not the only one who misses you.”  
  
“You’re the only one who’s asked me to come back.”  
  
Puck wonders if he should be more surprised about that than he is. Kurt certainly seems surprised, like maybe he expected somebody else to be the one to drive out to Westerville and try to get him back where he belongs.  
  
“Are you?” Puck asks. “Coming back, I mean.”  
  
“Thinking about it.” Kurt says, shooting Puck another smile, and an unfamiliar feeling settles in Puck’s stomach. He’s not sure, but he thinks it might be hope. “Blaine thinks I’m crazy.”  
  
“Well, from what I’ve heard, Blaine’s a douche.”  
  
“He’s not.” Kurt sighs. “But he’s like Rachel. He tries really hard, but never quite manages to get it right.”  
  
“Are you two together?” Puck figures he probably should have cleared that up the last time he saw Kurt, before offering his heart in the bleachers next to the Dalton baseball diamond.  
  
“Sort of.” Kurt shrugs.  
  
“What does that mean?”  
  
Kurt shoots Puck a look. “You of all people should know exactly what that means.”  
  
Puck never took Kurt as the kind of guy who would be okay with ‘sort of’. When he says it, Kurt shrugs again, but offers no explanation. Puck wants to tell Kurt that he can give him more than ‘sort of’, but he doesn’t know how to say it. He also doubts Kurt will believe it.

“What happened with Lauren?” Kurt asks. Puck isn’t sure why he wants to know, but he’s taken so much crap about the Lauren thing from pretty much everyone at McKinley that it doesn’t really even bother him anymore.  
  
“She’s awesome.” Puck shrugs. “She just didn’t feel the same way about me.”  
  
Kurt looks surprised again, like maybe he was expecting Puck to say he and Lauren didn’t work because she hadn’t put out or something. Which she hadn’t. But the waiting thing wasn’t so bad once he got used to it.  
  
“You’re different.” Kurt says after a long, quiet moment and it’s Puck’s turn to shrug. He isn’t going to argue, because it is the truth. A year ago, he wouldn’t be caught dead sitting on the tailgate of his truck with Kurt Hummel, and he wouldn’t have been man enough to admit that they’re teetering on the edge of something. Now, he’d be perfectly happy to sit here forever while they figure things out.  
  
“D’you think your dad will let you come back?”  
  
“We haven’t talked about it yet.” Kurt says. “He’ll probably take some convincing.”  
  
“My offer still stands, you know.”  
  
“Which offer?” Kurt frowns.  
  
“To be your own personal Secret Service. I mean, I know Karofsky’s gone, but I also know he wasn’t the only issue.”  
  
“And what does being my bodyguard entail, exactly?” Kurt is grinning, but Puck isn’t joking.  
  
“I don’t let people hurt what’s mine.” Puck says, and Kurt’s eyes go wide. His hand twitches, like he’s going to reach out and touch Puck but changes his mind.  
  
Kurt recovers after a moment. “I don’t remember agreeing to be yours.” He says archly.  
  
“Because I haven’t asked you yet, babe.” Puck says, shooting Kurt a smirk. “Besides,” he says more seriously, “You gotta figure out what’s going on with you and Blaine the idiot first.” Kurt frowns, and Puck elaborates. “I don’t go after anybody who isn’t free anymore.”  
  
“Blaine isn’t…we aren’t together, really.”  
  
“You said ‘sort of’. And I want you all to myself.” Puck hops down off the tailgate reluctantly, and Kurt follows suit, sliding his hands into his pockets as he starts walking towards his car, parked all the way down at the end of the lot. No wonder Puck didn’t notice it before.

“Hey Kurt,” He calls after him, unable to resist. “Like your ass in those jeans.”  
  
Kurt laughs, and it dawns on Puck how unfamiliar the sound is. Kurt shoots him a grin over his shoulder, and Puck feels hope fluttering in his stomach again.  



End file.
